In Time
by Shyma Tavrott Lupin
Summary: Ian James Rider had an increasingly difficult life.And sometimes even he wanted to breakdown and scream. But he couldn’t. Of course he couldn’t.


**Woah, this is the third upload on my Ian stories in the same day! I'm on fire here XD Anywho, this one's just a short little drabble about Ian and his little existance =] Enjoy!**

Ian James Rider had an increasingly difficult life.

And he had an increasingly difficult time dealing with it as well. Once glance at him would tell you he was the most stoic man alive and that he had absolutely everything under perfect control. But sometimes Ian didn't feel as calm and collected as people passed him off to be. Sometimes even he wanted to breakdown and scream. But he couldn't. Of course he couldn't.

"Don't you ever get tired of acting so perfect all the time?" Alex once said to him. Alex, his 8 year old nephew was probably the most important person in his life. Even though the boy felt like he was the least. Ian did that on purpose sometimes. He knew that as an MI6 agent his life could be taken at any moment, and he didn't want Alex to be nearly as devastated as he was, when he lost his guardian. No it wasn't his mum or his dad-he never cared much for his parents-but his brother.

Ian was so crushed when Blunt called him up and told him John and Helen's plane had been bombed. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that his beloved brother and his wife-who was like a sister to him-were dead. Ian thinks that's what turned him into the man he is today. The unbearable pain and sheer agony at the thought of living on without his brother at his side is probably what drove him into becoming the nearly emotionless stoic man he is today. He loved his nephew as much as if not more than he did his brother. And Ian loves Alex enough to want him never to go through the pain he had to go through when he lost his brother. So he makes sure he does nothing to make Alex as attached to him as he was to John.

Of course that doesn't always work out. Who could possibly mistreat someone they loved so much? Not even Ian.

Every chance he got Ian would make up for the hurt he caused Alex in general by leaving him. Because Ian didn't mean to be in the stands one second during Alex's most important play-off, then disappear the next second the boy looked into the audience. He didn't mean to back out of vacation plans at random, but these were things he just had to do. And he knew how much they hurt-he remembered his parents doing the same to him. So Ian took every opportunity he could and made it all up to Alex. And in doing so gave the boy the training he would need.

Ian didn't want Alex to end up in MI6. But he knew that even if the boy didn't have anything to do with the organization, he would inevitably get stuck in certain situations. Because in all of his years as an agent, Ian had gained so many enemies he couldn't possibly try to remember them all and hell did they want to kill him. Kill him in cold blood, and to do that they'd have to find Ian's weakest spot. Enter Alex, possibly the only flaw in Ian Rider's perfect being.

Alex had almost been kidnapped several times. It was precisely this that made Ian enroll Alex into every self defense class he could get his hands on. Because god forbid one day these people tried tog et a hold of Alex while he wasn't around to fight them off, he needed to know how to defend himself. Or at least stall long enough to call him. Either way he had to be safe. On top of Ian's job, his house, his car, even on top of his own life, was Alex's. Alex's safety was his number one priority and god knows he would do _anything_ to ensure it.

And then there was Jack. Truth be told she and Alex were the only person in Ian's life that he really cared about. Everyone else was an acquaintance or a colleague. But Jack was different. She was _very_ different. She was the only one Ian had ever met in as many years that dared to go against what he said. Question his methods and teach him something new. She taught him how to love again.

Ian was an extremely handsome man, but ever since he was young he never really was the one to waste his time on girls.

"Gay, much?" John said once jokingly. Truth be told though, he'd never really found anyone like him. He was different from everyone else, and not just in the sense that he was a genius super spy for MI6. He was different as a person and no one ever bothered with it. Until Jack came along of course.

But even then Ian didn't waste his time on it. Because this time, even though he was interested, there was no way he could go through with it. He was an MI6 agent for crying out loud. No, it would never work out. Not that anything he really wanted ever worked out, but still…

Ian didn't particularly like his life. Hiding everything from the people he cared the most. Emotionless and unattached to the rest of the world. It wasn't a very fun existence. But every time he would come home and smell one of Jack's ingenious new "recipes" and see Alex's face light up with happiness as to the fact that his uncle was finally home-Ian felt as though suddenly he had something to live for again. He would see his brother in that smile, he would see the look on John's face when he looked at Helen in that smile He would see the love he held for both his nephew and Jack. He would see every happy memory that existed in his mind in that one smile. And it would mean the world to him.

Of course, neither Alex nor Jack needed to know that. For now, all they needed to know was that they were living together, holding up a normal life with a slightly eccentric, boring old banker and that was the end of it.

Story of Ian's life.

**Alright, so that was it. What did you guys think? Good, bad? Should I make this a series and continue on? Like do another drabble about Alex, then maybe John, so on and so forth? You tell me =]**

**Reviews are loved! =]**


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